Turns the Sky to Gold
by faithwinchester
Summary: After 'Not Fade Away' the PTBs give Lindsey a chance to help some of their champions in a different dimension: the Winchesters.
1. Chapter 1

Title: Turns the Sky to Gold

Author: faithwinchester

Pairing: none as of yet

Rating: PG-13

Spoilers: through at least In My Time of Dying for SPN, and all of Angel

Summary: After 'Not Fade Away' the PTBs give Lindsey a chance to help some of their champions in a different dimension: the Winchesters.

Prologue

Lindsey couldn't help a burst of surprise when he opened his eyes. The last thing he remembered was being fatally shot by Lorne of all people right before the final battle was supposed to really begin. He'd been expecting an assassination attempt since he fully realized that there was no way that Angel was going to trust him, and honestly he would have been disappointed if there hadn't been something.

He hated that the final betrayal had come from Lorne, though. He didn't blame the green-skinned demon, but he did hate Angel for practically forcing Lorne to do it. Lindsey had gone into battle fully expecting to die, but he had been certain that death would come from Angel's hand. Sometimes, he really hated being wrong.

Of course, he had also expected to wake up in one of Wolfram and Hart's pet hell dimensions, and while he had no idea where he was, he was fairly certain that it wasn't any of the firm's hells. It looked like a waiting room: white walls, white floor, a few fairly comfortable looking white chairs and a single white door on the far side of the room. Boring, certainly, but quite a step up from spending more quality time with the Wrath.

He had just gotten himself comfortably situated in one of the chairs when the door opened to reveal a smirking Cordelia Chase. He let his head fall back, slumping slightly in his seat.

"Oh, wonderful. Maybe I am in hell after all."

Cordelia just snorted, dropping gracefully into the chair next to him. "Trust me, Lindsey. If you were in hell, there wouldn't be any maybe about it. You fulfilled your end of the bargain, and the Powers fulfilled theirs. Your soul no longer belongs to Wolfram and Hart."

Well, that was certainly a relief. At least he wouldn't have to worry about waking up in the Central Office anytime soon, or at all unless he did something monumentally stupid again. "So, darlin', why am I here instead of the afterlife, or wherever I was heading?"

"Lindsey, this is where you were heading. Your soul is sort of in limbo right now, so the Powers have decided to give you the chance to make up for all the evil things you did before you joined the good guys because you had no real choice." She smirked, flipping her hair back over her shoulder. "You've proven to have some talent at kicking wayward Champions in the ass, so the Powers want you to do the same thing for a few of their Champions in the dimension next door."

Lindsey sighed, running a hand over his face. "Just tell me that none of them have hair gel issues or a tendency to choke people they don't like."

Cordelia laughed, head tossed back and eyes sparkling. "No, they're not like Angel, I promise. The younger one does have a sad tendency to brood sometimes, but you can break him of that before he gets to Angel proportions."

"All right, sign me up. So, whose asses am I going to be kicking into shape for the Powers this time?"

Cordelia waved her hand, and an image appeared in mid-air of three men: one of them older, the other two younger and all three with a family resemblance. "Meet the Winchesters. The father is John, who got into hunting when a demon killed his wife. The sons are Dean and Sam, and they grew up with the whole hunting thing. The same demon that killed their mother just recently killed Sam's girlfriend."

Lindsey leaned forward, frowning. "What sort of demon was it? And why did it target the Winchesters if they weren't hunting before the mother died?"

Cordelia just shook her head. "I don't know, and right now it's not important. You're not supposed to do anything about the demon. It's all tied up in the Winchesters' destiny. You're strictly there for support and Winchester ass kicking. Not demon vanquishing."

"Suits me. So, how am I supposed to prove to a group of suspicious demon hunters that I'm one of the good guys, anyway? I can't do much ass kicking if they shoot me."

"Simple." Cordelia grinned at him, sending a shiver down Lindsey's spine. "Sam has visions, and you get a starring role in one. That should get your foot in the door, but the rest will be up to you."

He sighed, dropping his head forward and running a hand through his hair. "Just perfect. It sounds like Angel all over again, no matter what you say. Are you sure this isn't hell?"

Cordelia's laughter didn't make him feel any better about his new situation. "I didn't say it was going to be easy, lawyer boy. Nothing good ever is. But the Powers have confidence in your ability to at least make them tolerate you without getting yourself shot." Her smile turned smug. "Besides, you're getting a gift to help make yourself more useful."

His heart sank to somewhere in the vicinity of his stomach at that. "A gift? What sort of gift, and will it eventually make my head explode?"

"Nope, it's nothing like that. Though if you overuse it, you could theoretically manage to kill yourself, so you should watch out for that." Her eyes sparkled and her smug smile evolved into a blinding grin. "You, Lindsey McDonald, are now a sympathetic healer. Since you're going to be dealing with Winchesters the Powers decided that would be the most useful gift they could give you."

Lindsey sighed. "And they figured that my little vacation with the Wrath would make me better able to withstand the pain whenever I healed someone. Lovely."

Cordelia sighed, reaching out to pat his knee. "Lindsey, it may not feel like it right now, but the Powers chose you because you were the right person for the job. This isn't a punishment. It's a chance to help people, to make a difference. Isn't that what you wanted?"

He nodded almost without thought. Once he had decided that he was getting on the good guy bandwagon that was it, full speed ahead. Even though he had known full well that joining up with Angel would end with him dead, he'd done it anyway because for once he wanted to do the right thing. And for the short period of time before he'd wound up dead, it had been a nice feeling.

"All right. So, how do I do this anyway?"

Cordelia just smiled at him, got up out of her chair and leaned in until she was almost speaking directly into his ear. "How else?" Then she winked at him and pressed her lips to his in a chaste kiss. "Be good, Lindsey."

And an instant later, everything went dark.


	2. Chapter 2

Turns the Sky to Gold

Sam jerked awake, only the state of his throat telling him that he had somehow managed to keep from screaming. Not that it really mattered since both Dean and John were staring at him, John from his own bed and Dean from the chair by the small motel room table.

"You okay now, Sammy? Was that a regular nightmare or something else?"

Sam shuddered, rubbing a hand over his face with a tired sigh. "I'm pretty sure it was a vision, Dean." He winced and pinched the bridge of his nose. "I've certainly got the post-vision headache."

"What did you see, Sam?" It was obvious that John was trying to hold himself back and not push too hard, and even if he wasn't quite managing it Sam appreciated the effort.

He closed his eyes for a moment before taking a deep breath. "I'm not sure if it has anything to do with the Demon or if it's just something random, but there was a woman with solid black eyes."

John nodded. "That's a sure sign of possession. Was there anything else that might tie this into the Demon?"

After a moment's thought Sam shook his head. "I don't think so. She was obviously performing some sort of summoning ritual, and there was a man lying on the ground inside the summoning circle. He looked unconscious, and there was blood in his hair."

Dean frowned. "Sounds like the demon's using him as a sacrifice in the ritual. Which means that he's probably an innocent."

"Sam, could you tell what the demon was trying to summon?"

Sam closed his eyes, trying to remember exactly what the symbols on the ground had looked like. After a long moment, he shook his head. "I'm not sure, Dad. It looked familiar, but I'm not sure where I've seen it before."

John sighed, visibly trying not to push Sam to try harder to remember. "If you figure out what it was, or where you saw anything before, let me know. In the mean time, we need to pack up and get to wherever this was happening." He paused. "Could you tell where it was, Sam?"

"I'm not sure yet, but I saw enough that I can probably look it up without too much trouble. I am pretty sure it was somewhere in the desert, though."

Dean looked up from where he was packing their duffle bags. "How could you tell?"

Sam shrugged. "It felt really hot and dry, and all I could see out the building's window was bare earth. And something about it just felt like the desert to me."

"Well, son, if you think it felt like the desert then that's where we'll head. And once you can figure out something more specific we'll go from there."

Within half an hour Sam had the information he needed, all thanks to a billboard for some local attraction that he had caught a glimpse of in his vision. Half an hour after that the three Winchesters were on the road, John in his truck and Sam trying to catch a nap in the passenger seat of the Impala while Dean drove.

Despite his exhaustion Sam was only able to sleep for a couple of hours at a time, and even then it was fitful. Eventually he just gave up, shifting until he was at least somewhat more upright in the seat. "Where are we?"

"Should be in Arizona in about another hour or so. You get enough sleep, Sam?"

Sam nodded, biting back a yawn. "I'm fine, Dean."

Dean snorted. "That wasn't what I asked, Sammy. So I'm taking it as a 'no.' You think you can get another couple of hours at least?"

Sam shook his head, slumping as much as he could in the seat. "I doubt it. I just can't seem to get comfortable, and I think my headache's coming back. Plus, I feel sort of...twitchy."

"Twitchy, Sam? This a new side effect of the vision, or something else?"

Sam shrugged. "I'm not sure. I don't think it's a side effect of the visions, though. It feels almost like a side effect of this vision in particular. It's almost like I'm racing the clock and I'm falling behind."

Dean frowned, glancing at Sam out of the corner of his eye. "You think it has to do with the demon chick, whatever it was she was summoning, or the guy she was using as a sacrifice?"

Sam shrugged again. "I don't know, Dean. Whatever's going on is important, I know that much, but not why or how. And it's really getting frustrating."

Keeping one hand firmly on the wheel, Dean reached over and patted Sam's knee. "We'll figure it out, Sam. The two of us and Dad all on the job? Demon chick doesn't stand a chance."

"I hope you're right." Sam sighed, fidgeting until he was a bit more comfortable and closing his eyes. "Because I think whatever's about to happen is going to be seriously important. To all of us."

Dean squeezed Sam's knee, keeping his eyes on the road to give Sam at least a little privacy. "It'll all work out, Sam. I promise."

Sam kept his eyes closed, pretending to fall asleep. He knew that he wasn't fooling Dean, but he also knew that so long as he pretended to sleep Dean would let him. It was a signal they'd come up with years earlier to let the other know that talking was temporarily out of the question. And Sam had taken advantage of that fact more than he really cared to think about since Jess's death.

He was fairly sure that he would have to talk about things eventually, since not even Dean's incredible dislike of emotional moments would keep him from pushing things if he thought that something was wrong with Sam. The problem was that even Sam wasn't sure just what was wrong. All he knew was that whatever was coming was going to change everything.

And he had no idea whether that change was going to be for the better or not.


End file.
